FIGS. 4(a) and (b) are perspective views showing one example of a usual connector terminal. FIG. 5 is a plan view of a base material used for the usual connector terminal. The connector terminal 1 shown in FIG. 4(a) is manufactured by stamping and bending the base material (an electrically conductive metal plate). A tubular electric contact part 11 is formed in a front side of the connector terminal 1 in a longitudinal direction thereof. A U shaped electric wire crimping part 12 having a bottom plate 12a and a pair of grip pieces 12b and 12b standing from the bottom plate 12a is formed at a rear side of the connector terminal 1. A coated electric wire is crimped by and connected to the electric wire crimping part 12. The electric contact part 11 is a portion for connecting to a mate side male terminal (not shown). Such the connector terminal 1 may be used in such a manner that a portion between the electric contact part 11 and the electric wire crimping part 12 is bent substantially at right angles in the shape of L (see PTL 1). When the connector terminal 1 is attached to a housing, the connector terminal 1 may be bent so that the electric contact part 11 is extended in the direction of a Y axis shown in FIG. 4(a), namely, in the direction perpendicular to the bottom plate 12a of the electric wire crimping part 12 (see PTL 1).
When a bending work is carried out when the connector terminal is attached to the housing as described above, since the bending work is carried out in a separate step from a bending work in a manufacturing stage, there is possibility in that an imperfect attachment to the housing may possibly occur (for instance, the terminal is not fitted to a ferrite groove so that the terminal is deformed) due to the deterioration of a dimensional accuracy of a bending part and the bending work in the separate step causes a cost to be increased. Thus, the bending work of the connector terminal 1 is supposed to be carried out in the manufacturing stage, however, a stamping work of the connector terminal 1 is ordinarily carried out under a state that the bottom plate 12a of the electric wire crimping part 12 is connected to a belt shaped chain part and a plurality of connector terminals 1 are connected to the chain part. When the plurality of connector terminals 1 are connected to the chain part in such a way, if the electric contact part 11 is bent in the direction perpendicular to the bottom plate 12a, the electric contact part 11 does not exist on the same plane as the plane of the chain part and there is a high possibility in that a bending angle is changed. Accordingly, the belt shaped chain part cannot be inconveniently wound on a reel.
For making it possible to wind the belt shaped chain part on the reel, as shown in FIG. 5, a base material is supposed to be stamped so that a bent electric contact part 21 is arranged on the same plane (an X-Z plane) as a plane of a chain part 23 to which an electric wire crimping part 22 is connected like a connector terminal 2 shown in FIG. 4(b). In this case, since the electric contact part 21 is arranged on the same plane as the plane of the chain part, even when the chain part is wound on a reel, a bending angle is not changed.